


To The Moon (And Back)

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, M/M, big brother lance, lance and keith are in a 'secret' relationship even though everyone knows, tags and warnings will be added later in the story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-19
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-25 09:03:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7526635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lance gets wounded in battle, the team struggles to cope with the fact that they may lose their friend and fellow paladin. Keith is worried about losing his lover, Shiro feels responsible for the entire incident. Coran suggests they have something nice for Lance to see if he wakes up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this because i love voltron and i'm gay  
> basically i haven't decided if i am going to off lance or not yet, though i will write more of this!! i would like to thank 8tracks for getting me through this  
> you can follow me on my tumblr @ armins-blog if you wanna talk about headcanons or convince me to write more  
> enjoy!!

“- _ance!_ ”

There was a sharp ringing in the air, shapes around his line of vision blurred together into one mass, he shut his eyes. The sensation of being picked up stirred him, his train of thought had crashed off its rails, it made his head throb. Lance’s face felt wet, his only guess was that it was sweat and blood. A cloth touched the gash in his side, and he couldn’t hear himself scream in agony as the wound was burnt to close under the emergency circumstances.

It seemed like moments ago, he was fighting in Blue and making himself look badass, firing cool ass lasers. They took the battle on foot, retrieving quintessence from a Galra ship that they picked up on their radar just a few hours before. On this foreign planet-rock-thing, Lance found himself shot in the side, armor busted open and part of his own body missing. Fantastic. Apparently, this planet had oxygen, and he was not exploding as soon as his suit was breached open.

“Is he breathing?” The voice was feminine, had a bit of an accent. Allura was standing next to him now, he was being placed on the floor. “I think he is still conscious, actually.” Hunk was speaking, he must have been the one carrying him all this time. When did they get back to the castle? Weren’t they just on some battle field kicking ass? His head hurts.

“Lance? Lance! Stay with us, buddy.” Lance was lightly tapped on the cheek, his eyes cracked open for only a moment, seeing only bright light before he blacked out completely.

Shiro held back a sob as he raised a shaking hand over his team mate's limp body, murmuring about how it was all his fault that Lance was hurt in the first place. Lance was laying here, dying in front of his eyes, and all he could do was panic and cry.

"This is all my fault, fuck, this is all my fault. I should of been watching him, I had no idea that he was even behind me." The black paladin runs his fingers through his short hair, taking in long breaths before he is led to a chair so he can gather himself. Allura worked on keeping Lance's breathing stable, and Coran set up the medical pod while the paladins stood together in a tense circle, thinking about the worst.

-

“I have three sisters, and four brothers. I’m the best big brother in the world, believe me.” Lance waves his hand at the large dinner table, tapping the surface as he counted them all off by name. “Victoria, Ella, Brielle, Braxton, Drew, Ethan, and Logan. Then there’s me, Lance, the cool one.” He gives his team a proud smile, a genuine one at that. Hunk is smiling at the mention of his team mate’s family, whom he has met on several occasions. “They are all so funny and cute, fuck, I miss them. I bet they are wondering how I am.”

“Braxton is _hilarious_ , he climbs on tables and throws stuff.” Hunk mentions, to which Pidge chuckles at him. Shiro is listening with content eyes, chewing his food goo silently. Coran smiles over at Lance, raising his hand in question.

“Are your kin as rambunctious as you, young paladin?” He asks. Lance thinks for a moment, not sure if that was a joke or a compliment, he took it as a compliment.

“I’m going to stop you right there.” Keith raises his hand, sitting to the left of Lance and swallowing his food before he continues to speak. “I’m sure nobody is as annoying as Lance.”

“I am not annoying!” Lance sits up straight, grabbing the edge of the table defensively and pushing his chair back. “My siblings are not annoying; you better shut up before I ruin your annoying haircut!” He jabs a finger at Keith’s longer hair. The red paladin seems completely calm, only shrugging and taking another spoon full of food. “I never said they were annoying, I said you were annoying.”

“Ladies, please, you are both pretty, can we eat now?” Pidge sighs and nudges Keith’s arm, wanting both of them to stop bickering for once in their miserable space lives. It was true, Keith and Lance argued a lot for two kids who were supposed to save the universe together. There was something about Keith that just pissed Lance off. It wasn’t his pretty eyes or his silky hair, nor was it how the color red looked absolutely stunning on him. It was how Keith was completely unpredictable to him. One second, the guy was throwing jokes at him, the next he was insulting him like he was his worst enemy.

“Whatever.” Lance plops himself back down into the dining chair, scooting back up to the table and ignoring Keith’s obvious stare on the side of his face. His cheeks were burning now, all thanks to this fucker to his left.

-

“What do you mean he might not recover?” Keith clenches his fists, unreasonably angry at Allura all of a sudden. Lance had been shot in his side, and there was a slim chance that he would survive the ordeal. Shiro closing the wound with his arm had been a good idea at the time, but now there was a likelihood of an infection forming and just killing Lance. “He is the blue paladin, we need him, Allura! He has a family, friends, he can’t just die! He can’t just die!” Keith repeats himself with obvious frustration in his voice.

“Keith.” Shiro’s voice was straining, but Keith raised a hand to silence him.

“Don’t. Please.” Keith softens his tone, knowing Shiro was hurting. It was their job to protect each other as a team; Shiro dodged the blast on the field without realizing Lance was standing behind him. Lance was watching his leader’s back, and ended up being accidentally shot because of it.

“I know you are hurting, please, try to calm down.” His leader’s wavering tone does not help Keith calm down in the slightest. Keith turns his head, he sees Pidge silently wiping behind their glasses and Hunk uncharacteristically silent with a solemn expression.

“There is a high possibility that he can make it, but we have to consider the worst. He likely will be weak even after he is healed.” Allura touches the pod that Lance was fast asleep in and lets out a small breath, her eyebrows stitching together. “We will have to keep a close eye on him.”

Dinner was silent and tense, Hunk ate nothing, Pidge fiddled with their thumbs, Shiro’s head was in his hands, Allura picked at her food, while Coran assessed the situation with a frown.

“Why don’t we make a special trip to earth?” Coran suggests, offering a hopeful shrug and smiling at the grieving team. Shiro lifts his head, looking at Coran through his fingers.

“Why would we do that?”

“I’m sure Lance would like to see his family after all of this!” Coran claps his hands together, smiling and looking at the expressions on everyone’s faces. “How does that sound? It gives Lance time to heal, and we will give him something nice to wake up to, yes?”

“I would love to see my mom.” Pidge quietly murmurs, nodding their head in agreement and smiling at the idea of seeing their mother again.

“I can visit mine, too! After telling Lance’s family everything that happened, though, it’s gonna be hard to tell Mrs. McClain that her son got shot in space and can pilot an alien lion robot.” Hunk sounds happy as he rambles on, taking a bite of his dinner. Shiro and Keith looked at each other, sharing a fond smile as they seemed to silently agree to stay with Lance on their small vacation on earth.

-

“Why are you up this late?” Pidge walks up to Keith in their sleep clothes, socks making them silent on the cold floor. Keith was propped up against Lance’s medical pod, a tablet in his hands as he contentedly rested there. He didn’t want to leave Lance’s side; this was his way of saying he was sorry for not being able to protect his team mate on the battle field, like he should have been.

“I’m reading Lance a bed time story, what’s it look like?” Keith jabs, and Pidge snickers, sitting down in front of Keith’s exposed feet.

“I miss him, too. It was weird to eat without him singing some weird song or talking about girls, I even missed him arguing with you.” Pidge adjusts their glasses on the bridge of their nose, watching Lance rest in the pod. “What do you think he is dreaming about?” Keith freezes his fingers on the tablet, lifting his head to think about the question. What was Lance dreaming about? It could be anything. Fighting aliens, seeing his family, forming Voltron, kissing Keith? Keith doesn’t know how long the two had been exchanging kisses in the dark, but it was an occasion Keith looked forward to every night. Feeling Lance’s warm body crawl into his bed was reassuring and he felt home in that moment, lips locked with him. They pretended to not be intimate with each other, they pretended to still be rivals, even though it was almost painfully obvious that the two were dating. Lance always walked out of the same bedroom with Keith, they often wore each other’s clothing, small things that screamed they were closer than they let off to be.

“Probably something stupid.” Keith chuckles lowly, swiping his finger over the tablet to light up again. Pidge’s glasses reflected the light and they scooted closer, peeking over Keith’s shoulder to see what he was doing.

“What are you writing?” They questioned, raising an eyebrow at him, to which Keith frowned and hid the screen.

“Nothing!”

“Are you writing a diary entry? Is that your diary?” Pidge blinks, craning their neck to take a closer look, pouting when Keith shoved the tablet behind his back. “Fine, fine, I’ll let you keep writing your diary crap. I was just checking to see how Lance was doing, obviously you have things under control.” Pidge stands then, stretching and groaning before waving Keith goodbye as they made their way back to bed. Keith sighs, sliding the tablet back up and unlocking the screen, glancing back at Lance’s sleeping figure before he continues typing the daily log for Lance to see what he missed when he woke up. If he woke up.

“Fuck.” Keith hissed, setting the tablet down to hang his head in his hands. His chest hurt at the thought of Lance dying like that, their last conversation was an argument about how annoying Lance was. His last conversation with his lover was about how his lover was annoying. “I’m such a piece of shit.” He murmurs, standing up and letting his sore legs stretch as he touches the glass that Lance was peacefully trapped in. He says goodnight, and makes his way to Lance’s bedroom, it might help him stop missing the little shit.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance hasn't woken up yet, the entire team is trying to make light of the situation. Keith throws a fit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here it is! I got so excited, i just wanted to keep writing   
> i hope you guys enjoy!! feel free to guess what is going to happen, i don't plan on making this story very happy

_Entry no. 3_

_Hunk told us more about your family today. Why didn’t you tell me that you were the oldest of fuckin’ babies? I had no idea you had literal toddler siblings. We all miss you a lot. Shiro is still beating himself up over the whole ordeal; I hope you won’t be angry at him when you get out of there. He is crying in the showers because of it, it’s tearing all of us up. I hope you wake up soon, I miss you. Pidge played music off of your iPod to lighten the mood, I don’t know why you have so much shitty music on there, but it got us to dance and sing like idiots, even Allura. Speaking of the princess, Allura says you have neurological activity or something, saying that you were dreaming about something. Will you tell me what you dreamt about when you wake up? I love you._

Keith chews on his lip as he is writing the short log, taking out the last three words before he posts the log and puts the tablet back under his, Lance’s, pillow. There was shitty pop music over the intercom again, that’s what woke him up in the first place a few hours ago. He walked out into the commons to find his team sitting together, gently dancing on the sofa in between laughs with each other. Lance would have been standing and dancing in the middle of them, they would be clapping and laughing as the dork moved his hips and rolled his shoulders.

_Tell me why (Ain’t nothin’ but a heartache)_

Pidge was smiling and rocking their arms back and forth as they lip synced with the song, while Hunk was belting the dumb lyrics, clapping his hands to the beat. Shiro was laughing, wheezing between laughs and rubbing his eyes.

_Tell me why (Ain’t nothin’ but a mistake)_

Coran was smiling behind the castle’s control panel, watching Allura have fun with the boys to a song she was quickly becoming accustomed to. The princess was laughing as well, Keith propped himself against the wall to watch the sight of his team mates have fun, a small smile crawling onto his face. It hit him like a train, what was missing from their good time. Lance wasn’t there to make the team cry with laughter, to make Pidge do that scream they always did when they laughed too hard, Lance always had the purest smile on his face when he could give his team a good time. It wasn’t fair; here they were, having a good time without Lance. Listening to Lance’s music, laughing without him, trying to forget that their blue paladin was dying. It made Keith angry, he balled his fists, not having fun anymore. He stormed over then, standing in the place Lance would have been dancing if he were there in that moment.

“You guys having fun?” He talks bitterly, clutching his jacket sleeves with white knuckles. The team looks at him with wide eyes, smiles wiping off their ignorant faces.

“Hey, Keith! You made it just in time, we were just about to play Gasolina-” Hunk rubs his eyes and catches his breath, completely caught off guard by Keith’s sudden vulgar retort.

“This is bullshit. You five are just hanging out, having a jolly good time, while Lance is in the medical bay _dying_.” Keith raises his arm to motion towards the bay hallway, the party stopped in its tracks almost immediately. Pidge stopped the music with their laptop, looking like they were caught committing some crime. “Are you guys happy? Forgetting that Lance is dying? Are you just excited to go home and abandon Lance? Abandon Voltron? Hunk, how are you gonna tell Mrs. McClain that Lance is dead? That you guys just danced to his music-”

“Keith. Calm down, we realize the intensity of the situation, we are only trying to make light of it. Please, stop yelling at Hunk, stop acting we are forgetting. We know, Keith, we are just trying to have some hope, Lance isn’t dying.” Shiro interrupted him, giving him that calm voice, which only pissed Keith off even more.

“All you wanna do is forget, _Shiro_ ,” Keith spits, adding emphasis on his leader’s name. “You know this was your fault to begin with. You just want us to forget that you are a shitty leader!” He was furious, he was letting his pent up frustration out on his leader, his only positive guardian figure, a man that tried his best to protect all these teens. Shiro’s gaze fell, and his shoulders drooped as he was accused, expression blank. Hunk was opening his mouth, Pidge was glaring at Keith, and the princess touched Shiro’s shoulder before she spoke.

“I think you need to leave.” This wasn’t a suggestion, it was an obvious order. Keith snarls, his impulsive rant over, and stormed out of the commons with heavy steps. His eyes burned as he opened the medical bay doors, the hissing of the door closing behind him comforted him, wanting to be alone. Keith’s cheeks were wet by the time Lance’s medical pod was lifted from the ground, and Keith pounded his fist on the surface of it.

“Wake up, you fucking asshole. Wake up, right now.” He snaps, grinding his teeth together in frustration. Lance was still sleeping, the castle was still moving towards earth, the gash in Lance’s side was still deep. “You need to wake up. You have to wake up.” Keith was begging now, sliding down onto his knees and putting his palms on the pod, his forehead touching the cool surface. “Please, _please_. Lance, baby, please.” The red paladin cried there, in the silence of the bay, his lover’s body remaining still.

-

“I’m trying to sleep.” Keith groans, pulling the blanket over his shoulder, away from Lance. Lance only snickered, pressing kisses to Keith’s exposed shoulder, up his neck and on his jaw.

“Sleep shmeep, I wanna kiss.” Lance holds Keith’s bicep, tugging him onto his back so he could comfortably lay between his lover’s warm legs and kiss his cheek. Keith gave in, a smile tugging onto his lips as he wrapped his arms around Lance’s neck and kissed him on the lips, their bodies together and chests touching. Lance let out a small hum of approval, swiping his tongue over Keith’s bottom lip, the invitation granted. They slid their tongues together, a small while coming from Keith when Lance ground his waist against him.

“I don’t think you just want to kiss.” Keith wipes his lips, Lance let out a small laugh and peppered kisses on the red paladin’s neck. Keith craned his head so Lance could have more room, gasping when he sucked on a spot below the curve of his jaw. Lance lifted his head with a wet pop, a smug grin on his dumb face.

“You look pretty like this, baby.”

“Baby?” Keith choked on air, eyes wide in surprise when Lance called him a new name besides ‘asshole’ or ‘dumbass’. Lance blinked, his face flushing as he realized what he had said.

“Oh my God.” He sits up, running a hand through his short brown locks, laughing at himself. Keith blushed, but he worked up the nerve to grab Lance by the shoulders and yank him back down into a kiss. He released Lance, panting and carding his fingers through Lance’s hair.

“I like it, but save it for the bedroom.”

“You got it, baby.”

-

Dinner was tense, Keith sat by himself on the other side of the table, chewing his food silently. Shiro pushed the goo around with his fork, deep in thought. Pidge was staring at Keith, daggers in their piercing golden eyes. They were obviously about to say something about Keith’s impulsive behavior, so Keith spoke before anything else could be said.

“I’m sorry about what I said earlier, especially to you, Shiro. It wasn’t your fault. I was just angry and looking for someone to put the blame on.” Keith spoke slowly, thinking over his words before he said them for once. Shiro lifted his eyes from his dinner, to Keith. He looked absolutely miserable, Keith saw the guilt in his tired eyes. There were bags under his eyes, red in the white of his eyes, he had been crying over this and not sleeping because of it. It made Keith’s stomach fall, knowing he had made Shiro’s grief even worse by his words.

“It’s okay, Keith. What you said is right, I hold responsibility for what happened.” Shiro mumbled, his attention going to his meal yet again.

“Shiro..” Hunk talked softly, touching Shiro’s shoulder to comfort him, only to have his leader shy away from him.

“No, Hunk, it is.”

“It is not. We all hold blame for what happened. We can’t do anything to help Lance now, we all made a group decision to go into battle in the first place. Shiro, you saved Lance from bleeding out on an alien planet, you saved his life.” Keith sounded like Shiro now, being comforting and having that stupid calm voice. Shiro looked at him, cleared his throat, and sat up straight.

“I suppose you are right. I think it is time we started to find ways to help Lance recover faster, we will be arriving to earth in.. How many days?” Shiro directs his attention to the princess and Coran, whom blinked.

“I believe one earth month, sir.” Coran replies, and Shiro nods.

“Alright. One month to wake up our team mate, Princess, do your people practice any homemade treatments for injury?” He asks, and Allura thinks for a moment.

“I don’t believe we do anything besides the basic medical procedures that we did here.”

“Shit.” Pidge rubs their temples, and an idea comes to Keith.

“Wait,” Keith stands out of excitement, his palms hitting the table. “Remember how I got burnt, on that Galra ship? Quintessence covered me, healed me instantly. Maybe if we get some quintessence for Lance, he will wake up!” The team becomes alert at that, wheels turning in their heads.

“Keith,” Allura bites down on her bottom lip, looking down at her meal. “I-”

“-think that is a very good idea.” Shiro agrees, looking over at the princess. “Think about it, we can study the quintessence and save Lance’s life in the process.”

“Yeah, and how the hell are we going to get it?” Pidge asks, jerking their hand into the air in frustration. “You all seem to forget that every time we go to get this shit, something awful happens! We get separated! Lance gets shot! I say no.”

“You sound like Hunk.” Keith mumbles, and Hunk lets out a long sigh.

“I agree with Pidge, buddy. This is risky.” Hunk rubs the back of his neck, shaking his head. “I say no, too.”

“I say yes, I am willing to do anything to save Lance’s life.” Keith is still standing, now pounding his fist on the table, being impulsive again. “I will go by my fucking self if I have to! I am going to save Lance, if it’s the last thing I do.”

“I’ll be with you the entire time, I can’t risk you getting hurt.” Shiro nods his head in agreement, the princess shakes her head.

“I am not putting you two in that much danger alone, not again.” Allura sounds genuinely worried, and Shiro lifts his hand to interrupt her again.

“Please, princess. I can’t let Lance die on my watch, I won’t forgive myself if he does. Keith needs to do this with at least someone, we all know how stubborn he is, he will do it with or without permission.”

“Hey!”

“You know I’m not wrong.”

“Paladins..” Allura lowers her head, thinking over the situation when Hunk speaks up.

“If Shiro is doing it, I’m doing it, I wanna save my buddy, no matter how bad it gets.”

“Same here, I can’t let him just die. I feel like an asshole saying no.” Pidge chimes, and Coran looks at the princess with hopeful eyes.

“Alright, we will retrieve quintessence and wake Lance up in a tick.” She says firmly, and the team has a chance to celebrate. Keith sits back down in his chair, smiling to himself.

“Don’t worry, baby, we have your back. I’ll see you soon.” He talks to the hallway to their left, lifting his fork to his mouth and continuing with dinner, a new sense of hope in the air.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They retrieve the quintessence, but at what cost?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this isn't the end  
> enjoy, guys!! thank you so much for the feedback

“Are you scared of death?” Keith blinks at the question, turning to his lover and propping himself up on one arm. Lance always got weird late at night, but it was never as deep as this. He was used to questions about pigeons and what type of shampoo aliens use.

“Um, why do you ask?” The red paladin cocks his head to one side, Lance lets out a soft breath, lifting his head to meet Keith’s and kisses him gently. Keith reels back, shaking his head and laughing at his lover, putting a finger on Lance’s puckered lips. “No, I’m not. Why do you ask?” He releases Lance and sits up entirely, watching the blue paladin scratch at his bare chest and shrug his shoulders.

“I had a dream a while ago that freaked me out, Pidge died and it made me realize how much I love you guys, that’s all.” His voice is oddly calm as he talks, his eyes close and Keith notices how long his dark eyelashes are. “I’m scared of it, honestly.” Lance seems to notice the thickness in the air, clearing his throat and grinning over at Keith. “Space God can’t handle how awesome I am.”

“I’m pretty sure nobody can handle you in general, dummy.”

“Hey, be nice!”

Keith laughs into his lover’s mouth, nuzzling into him and kissing him tenderly. Lance is deeply loved, even though he has never said it verbally; he hopes that Lance knows it. Every inch of this boy is loved, whether he realizes it or not. He lets go of his lover, watching Lance touch his lips Lance turns to face Keith completely, a grin on his handsome face, Keith holds him by his cheeks.

“Dude, if I ever die, I wanna be buried back on earth.” Lance’s tone does not match his words, sounding completely casual as he spoke. This alarmed Keith in a way he didn’t know was possible, his heart thrumming in his chest nervously.

“You’re not dying on my watch, not anytime soon at least.” The red paladin holds Lance by each of his bare shoulders, shaking his head violently. Lance dying horrified him, the thought that it could actually happen was terrifying because it was so real. “No, you dying is not on my agenda, it’s not gonna happen.”

“Haha, okay, okay!”

-

“You four have exactly twenty earth minutes to get in there, and get out with the quintessence.” Allura speaks into their headsets, Shiro pulls up the video feed as he nods and navigates the black lion towards the Galra ship they located the night before. The plan was to get in, get out, no fighting. This was a stealth mission, Lance would of said something about them being in some video game about a snake, that Shiro didn’t understand. Maybe he was getting old.

“Affirmative, princess. Everyone remember the plan? Absolutely no contact.” Shiro turns his head, looking at his team mates on the screen. They all nodded. “This is for Lance, this is our only chance to save him. Without Lance, we can’t form Voltron. Without Lance, we have no chance of saving the universe.”

“Lance would say something funny.” Hunk snickers and Pidge lifts their hand.

“I’ve got this,” They cough a little and pull an annoying voice, fist pumping. “Let’s fucking do this!” Keith chuckled and steered Red around the ship in silence. Coran gave them time to land through interference, much like the time they got separated from each other. Pidge shivers at thought of that day again, swallowing hard and landing green on the side of the ship, pulling out their laptop to locate any strong energy sources on the ship. The team meets up at the hull of the ship, talking over their plan before slipping in using Shiro’s timing technique. Something was missing, something was off about this. Keith chewed on his bottom lip, hand wrapped tightly around the bayard in case something were to happen. He needed to watch his team’s back, they were watching his. Pidge gave a silent point, they all scurried past a few druids and leaned up against the same wall. Shiro was evenly breathing, having to go through this more than he should of at this point. These kids were depending on him, he needed to give them a level head so they wouldn’t get scared.

“Someone’s coming.” Hunk hisses, looking over the edge of the wall. This guy looked like a robot, but a lot smarter than the rest of them. Shiro tenses at this, his calm posture beginning to fail when his arm begins to heat and glow. Pidge gasps when Shiro whips around the corner, sending his arm directly into the creature’s chest, blood splattering onto his face and suit. It was a dark color, but it wasn’t human. He wipes it from his mouth with a heavy breath, ignoring the stares from the others as the creature gurgled and died on the floor, blood pooling around it.

“Keep moving.” Shiro orders, pacing down the hallway with the paladins following closely behind him. Keith stops in his tracks, hissing to get his team’s attention as he motions to a door that looks much like the one he saw before, minus the teleporting Emperor Palpatine. He opens the door, the door much louder than it was on the castle.

“Go, go, go!” Pidge pushes them all in, closing the door behind them with wide eyes. “Someone is coming, they saw the body! Shiro?” Shiro was staring down at the ground, the dried blood on his hand burning off as the seconds went by. He was having another flashback, so Keith stepped in and touched his shoulder.

“Shiro? Come on, buddy, we need you here.” Keith looks around at the marvelous yellow capsules in the room, the glow illuminating the room. Hunk took the smaller capsule out of his pouch, handing it to Keith. Keith filled up the capsule and put it into his own pouch, Shiro seemed to be finally coming back after a few back rubs from Pidge.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here.” Almost as soon as Keith spoke, sirens started going off around them. Shiro cursed under his breath, pounding into the locked door with his metal hand, he cut out something that vaguely looked like a circle, and kicked it open. The metal chunk that flew, crashed into a few druids that were outside the door. The team ran, and Keith activated his sword as he hurried down the hall, taking the front and slashing into any druids that came towards them. Hunk held his shield, protecting them as they ran. Pidge said something about not attacking like their first plan, but Keith ignored it.

“Paladins, hurry! Ships are staring to take fire on us, we are under attack!” Coran spoke into their helmets, and Keith groaned as he shoved a druid aside. They saw the door to the outside closing ahead of them, all of them pounding on the metal surface. Shiro tried to cut their way out, but the airlock sealed and they were trapped. Druids surrounded them, the team forced themselves forward and fought.

“Oh, my stars. Lance is awake!” The princess’s voice caught Keith off guard, but he blocked a blast that was fired at him with his shield. “He is delirious, stumbling everywhere and asking for his mother, oh- Coran!” She sounded frantic all of a sudden, and Shiro spoke into his headset with a worried voice.

“What is happening? Is he okay?”

“He’s bleeding, he’s fighting us! Oh, stars. Coran, get him into the pod, he’s bleeding!” Allura’s voice sounded far away now, the team could hear Lance’s screams from far away, begging for his mother. He sounded absolutely torn apart, it made Keith’s heart ache until he heard a loud thud over the mic, turning his head to see claws ripping into the metal of the airlock door. It was the black lion, now tearing the door with its jaws. The air was sucked out of the room, the paladins screamed as they were sucked out into the void of space.

Shiro was caught in the mouth of his lion, and each paladin was matched with their lion. It reminded Keith of the time Red finally chose him, saving him from floating into space forever. They made their way back to the castle, hearts pounding in their ears. Lance was awake, Lance is alive, Lance is currently bleeding out all over again. Once they entered the medical bay, the ship far far away from any galra ships, Keith’s throat closed at the sight of Lance propped up against a medical pod, a pool of blood not too far from his feet. He was scared, tired, obviously swinging in and out of consciousness. He held his side, which had been ripped open in the process of his fighting.

“Lance, baby.” Keith spoke quietly, taking off his helmet and approaching his confused lover with an outstretched hand. Lance’s unfocused eyes looked at him, and he lifted what seemed to be a scalpel of sorts from his side.

“No, lemme alone.” Lance slurred his words, gulping and waving the scalpel at Keith’s direction. Keith pulled the capsule of quintessence from his pouch, holding it up for Lance to see.

“Do you remember this? This is going to heal you, Lance, I promise, just let me-”

“No, fuck off!” Lance swiped the scalpel at Keith, who grabbed his wrist and easily overpowered the weak paladin, opening the capsule and pouring it onto his open wound. Lance wriggled and went limp, the liquid closing his wound quickly. Keith didn’t even use half, he screwed up the capsule and tossed it aside, holding up his lover in his arms.

“Lance, wake up, you’re good now.” Keith tells him, shaking Lance gingerly. They went on this mission to save him, to wake him up, to have Lance smiling again. “Lance, stop fucking around. Wake up, please.” His voice broke as he shook Lance again, his limp body showing no response. The blue paladin was still warm, he wasn’t dead.

“Keith.” Shiro was talking, giving him that calm voice.

“No.”

Hunk approached him, kneeling down next to Lance’s body and taking a limp hand, squeezing it with shaking fingers. “Come on, man. We just fixed you up. Doesn’t that mean anything? Lance, buddy. I can’t do this without you, nobody can. I can't do this to your mom.”

-

_Entry 32_

 

_We arrived at earth. We brought you home. Are you happy?_


End file.
